In SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), governance refers to the set of practices and processes that provide oversight and control over the implementation of Agile practices at scale. It establishes guidelines and policies to ensure that organisations can achieve their business objectives effectively and efficiently. Governance in SAFe involves defining roles, responsibilities, and decision-making processes to ensure alignment and accountability among teams and stakeholders. It also encompasses the establishment and monitoring of metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to track progress and measure the success of Agile initiatives. By implementing strong governance practices, organisations can maintain control and visibility while fostering agility and innovation.

 

Within SAFe, governance is built in and is one of the dimensions of Lean Portfolio Management. This means that within the Agile Release Trains, there are people who understand that governance is guiding the Agile Release. In other words, what we do is look at the evidence that we need and determine what is the needed comfortable standard to fulfil the requirements of governance.

Who Takes Care of Governance? 

In general, governance in an organisation is the responsibility of top-level management, executives, and leadership teams. In SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), the ultimate ownership of governance rests with the SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) or the Chief Scrum Master (CSM) in large-scale implementations. 

 

They are responsible for facilitating governance-related activities, such as: 

 

🚀 Planning. 

🚀 Reviews. 

🚀 Audits.

🚀 Compliance reporting. 

🚀 Risk management. 

 

Additionally, they work closely with program and team-level roles to ensure that there is alignment and consistency in the application of governance practices across the organisation. Therefore, it is critical that the individuals responsible for governance have a deep understanding of SAFe principles and practices, and work collaboratively with teams and Stakeholders to ensure that governance is carried out effectively.

 

These people who understand and implement governance in SAFe are therefore an important part of the Agile Release Train. This is because they look at the evidence and determine what work items need to be created and delivered against the identified evidence. And once we have created work items that we must deliver, our governance team will look at the Iterations and examine what we have delivered every two or four weeks. 

 

Once we have gathered and received that feedback, we then determine what our success measures are and what is required to achieve this.  

 

We can determine this through: 

 

🚀 Artefact building. 

🚀 Iteration reviews. 

🚀 System demos. 

 

In the end, we come together and ensure that everything is integrated and fulfils the requirements that we have, and provide guidance accordingly. 

That’s how we build data. 

 

Interested to learn more? 

 

At Value Glide, through the application of  SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), we are able to offer agile consulting, agile coaching, and agile training specialists who work with organisations to align business objectives with customer needs and wants.

As deeply experienced agile coaches and practitioners, our team is invested in continuous learning through each client engagement and uses the data and evidence we gather from each implementation to inform our training, coaching, and consulting services.

In a nutshell, empirical process control or empiricism. 

If you are thinking of adopting agile within your organisation and have identified SAFe as a great agile framework to adopt, implement and improve your business agility, visit our SAFe Quickstart ART Launch program page or view our SAFe Consulting Services page.

If you have identified a need for an agile coach and SAFe coach to help your organisation adopt and implement SAFe, visit our SAFe Coaching Services page. We are committed to equipping organisations with the tools and knowledge to thrive in this ever-changing digital age, and achieve business agility through the Scaled Agile Framework. 

Sounds good to you? Then sign-up today, and learn more about this transformation and revolutionary framework that is changing the game in the world of Agile. It is truly remarkable what can be done when we put our heads together and decide to work as one.

If you want to know more about SAFe and how to lead SAFe, visit our SAFE Training page for a host of options, from Leading SAFe to a SAFe Release Train Engineer course.

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